Tomosynthesis breast imaging may involve acquiring a plurality of tomosynthesis projection images at a series of angles relative to the breast, and using information describing at least some of these images to reconstruct a volumetric tomosynthesis reconstructed image. Such a volumetric image may comprise a stack of breast slices that have selective thicknesses and orientations and correspond to respective sections through or slices of the breast that typically are but need not be planar. In addition, conventional x-ray mammography images can be acquired, in the same procedure that acquires the tomosynthesis images of a breast or in a different procedure and in the same or different compressions of the breast. Such conventional images may be used in addition to the tomosynthesis images, to improve image analysis and display.
Tomosynthesis volume images can be processed by various techniques that draw attention to selected portions or features of these images, such as CAD (computer aided detection) techniques that may analyze the images to identify likely abnormalities and may place markers on a breast image or representation that identify the location and in some cases the type or other information about the likely abnormalities.
US 2009/0080752 A1 discloses a method of forming a set of candidate pixels that are candidates for inclusion in a final set of pixels that are determined to be associated with calcifications and called “calc pixels”. The method includes eliminating from the set the candidate calc pixels that are not in a set of at least a specified number of candidate calc pixels in a specified volume of the 3D set of pixels, e.g., in a volume that represents a 1 cm by 1 cm by 3 mm volume of the breast, where the 3 mm is the size of a thick slice image.